Great Apes Debate Leads To EU Testing Ban Proposal

Photo source: flikr

BRUSSELS – Europe’s environment chief plans to ban laboratory tests on mankind’s closest relatives — chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orang-utans — in a clampdown on animal testing by the drugs industry and other laboratories.

But some animal welfare groups and researchers accused the European Union of masking weak regulation with empty gestures, as no great apes have been used in EU research for six years.”Today’s draft legislation does include a great ape test ban, but as no apes are used in EU research at the moment, this is considered by many animal advocates as something of a token gesture,” said the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, a British-based charity which opposes using animals in experiments.

Monkeys would not be spared experimentation by the EU after some European Commission departments intervened on behalf of industry in the EU’s “Great Ape Debate”, animal welfare campaigners said.

“It is absolutely important to steer away from testing on animals,” said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. “Scientific research must focus on finding alternative methods to animal testing, but where alternatives are not available the situation of animals still used in experiments must be improved.”

Some 12 million vertebrate animals are used each year in experiments throughout the 27-nation bloc — half for drug development and testing, a third for biology studies and the rest for cosmetics tests, toxicology and disease diagnosis.

Around 80 percent are mice and rats and primates account for around a tenth of 1 percent or about 12,000 animals.

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